Amazon CEO gives $2.5 million for Washington gay marriage law

Amazon CEO gives $2.5 million for Washington gay marriage law

July 27th, 2012 in Local - Breaking News

In a Monday, May 7, 2012 file photo, Amazon founder, president and CEO Jeff Bezos and wife Mackenzie Bezos arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala benefit, celebrating Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, in New York. Bezos and his wife MacKenzie announced a gift Friday, July 27, 2012 of $2.5 million to the campaign to defend Washington's same-sex marriage law.

In a Monday, May 7, 2012 file photo,...

Photo by
Associated Press
/Times Free Press.

RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced Friday they are donating $2.5 million to the campaign to defend Washington's same-sex marriage law.

With the gift, Washington United for Marriage has raised more than $5 million for its referendum campaign.

"It's a game changer for us," said campaign manager Zach Silk in Seattle. "It puts us in unique position to win."

But, his group is still the underdog, he said. In 32 previous elections nationally, same-sex advocates have lost. Silk said he believes the Washington election may be the turning point, thanks in part to the Bezos' donation.

"We're at a tipping point, and they really understand this is an historic moment, and they want to be on the right side of history and want to make history," he said.

Amazon publicly supported the law earlier this year, along with other prominent Pacific Northwest businesses, including Microsoft, Starbucks Corp. and Nike Inc.

Last month, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates each donated $100,000 to support the law.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said the Bezos' donation was a personal decision and that "Jeff and MacKenzie feel strongly about the issue."

Referendum 74 was certified for the November ballot in May after gay marriage opponents in the group Preserve Marriage Washington turned in more than 240,000 signatures. The referendum seeks to overturn the gay-marriage law signed in February by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The same-sex marriage law was supposed to take effect June 7 but has been put on hold pending the November vote.

A "yes" vote on the referendum upholds the law, and a "no" vote overturns it.

Joseph Backholm, chairman of Preserve Marriage Washington, said that while he was surprised by the size of the donation, his campaign has always expected that it would be outspent by gay marriage supporters.

"We're optimistic about what's going to happen in the end," he said. "Jeff Bezos gets to vote just one time like everyone else in state. That's the great equalizer."

As of Friday, Preserve Marriage has raised just over $253,000, though Backholm said the group hopes to ultimately raise $4 million.

National groups like the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization for Marriage, which was involved in ballot measures that overturned same-sex marriage in California and Maine, have promised to help overturn the law.

Same-sex marriage is legal in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C. Maryland legalized gay marriage this year as well, but that state also is poised to have a public vote this fall.

In Maine, voters will decide on an initiative to approve same-sex marriage three years after a referendum overturned a law passed by the Maine Legislature. And in Minnesota, voters will decide whether to pass a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.